nothing ever stays the same
by the vortex of meow
Summary: Even the brightest stars still burn out. - Regulus' thoughts while he sits on in the hightest floor of Grimmauld Place and looks to the sky.


**Many thanks to _Celinarose_ for her looking over this! Teammate!power! - ****Originally written for QLFC comp. Unfortunately, I switched positions in the middle of the rounds and had to scrap it. I found it amongst my stories and thought _why not.  
_ Then I started thinking of this gal who really helped with my team - by giving me strong push - for sending me pennames and generally be just brillant. Then I thought _yeah, I'll dedicate this fic to Emiliya Wolfie. For being an hononary Kestrels, for helping me when I had no idea what I was doing (haha) and for helping out my team. It isn't much but...You love Regulus, right? :)_  
**

* * *

The sky is a blank canvas with spots of small and little splashes of paint that litter the entire dark expanse up above.

It's beautiful and different.

He wants to see it through a small window on the highest floor of Grimmauld Place — which happens to be the attic.

* * *

Regulus sneaks into the attic at night when everybody is asleep. He has to be careful, though. The second step out of his bedroom screeches like a banshee, the walls always seem to creak as he passes Sirius' room, and the beheaded house elves seems to gruesomely cackle at him down the stairs.

His parent's bedroom is further down the hall and luckily — he just has to pass by it once and go up a few more steps before opening the attic door. Being tiny and silent is an advantage and, much to his pleasure, he has never been caught.

Except _once_ when Kreacher was hunting a rodent in the middle of the night — because that's just his luck — and they collided into each other. They had collapsed in front of his brother's room with a loud thump. Regulus had held his breath and hoped to the stars above that Sirius was a heavy sleeper.

He _was.  
_

Then he hoped that Kreacher was easily bribed.

He _was._

The accident was easily forgotten about.

...

But when it became a habit to travel in the dark, that's when it got a bit... difficult.

* * *

Regulus holds in an embarrassed groan of dismay at the sight of his brother grinning at him like a mad-man in the attic _._

"What are you doing here?"

Sirius' grin just got wider and Regulus feels rather tired at seeing that grin because it usually meant that he was going to have to be the responsible one. "I came to see what my dear little brother was doing every night."

"I travel to the attic... and... " Regulus looks over the boxes tucked neatly into dark corners and the mounds of dust that look like they could come alive at any moment. He finishes his sentence with a delicate, "and.. I _clean."_

"Charming." Sirius gives a pointed look at the mounds of dust, "Forgive me, I didn't know you were going for House Elf."

Regulus bristles, "Alright, fine. I come and look at the stars. Feminine enough for you?"

Sirius laughs. "You use the excuse that you're cleaning and you think that sounds less feminine than watching the stars?"

That's right. He winces inwardly. Not his best moment.

Sirius grabs his arm, before sitting - with a small sigh - near the window that Regulus always looks out of at night. He sits down awkwardly on the floor because his brother took his normal spot. "That's my spot."

"You want me to move?"

He thinks about it for a moment before he shakes his head. "Maybe if you were foot taller."

Sirius stares. "If I was a foot taller, it would've made a difference?"

Regulus snorts. "I wouldn't be able to see the sky if you were. Merlin knows that I'll need some kind of entertainment while you _blabber_ on about whatever it is you are going to say."

"I was _going_ to tell you something."

"Well go on then."

Sirius pauses. "I forgot."

"Oh, come on."

Regulus rolls his eyes and leans back against the wall. Somehow, he can't find it in himself to look out the window while his brother does as well. It feels awkward.

"We are _Blacks._ We are named after the stars." Regulus wonders if he imagines the bitterness in Sirius' smile as he says that. "I see no shame in wanting to watch them."

Regulus nods doubtfully. He doesn't know what he had expected his brother to do if he was ever found out. Scold him? Send him to his room? Something that involves breaking a rule that their mother set for them seems right up in Sirius's alley.

"How did you know?" Regulus asks. He had been so careful every night to not make a single noise.

Sirius holds up a finger, "One, you crashed in front of my door two nights ago."

Regulus winces.

"Two, the walls creak when someone walks by my room."

He _knew_ it.

"Three..." Sirius leans forward with a wide grin as if sharing some important secret with only him, "I sneak out too."

Regulus gapes.

His brother seems satisfied with his shock and gestures to the bottom of his pants that have grass stains on them, "I fly at night."

Regulus stammers, "But if Mother ever caught you..." His voice dies off at the thought. Their mother is strict, but even he doesn't know how she would react at the thought of her older son gallivanting off in the sky. In the middle of the night.

"Mother won't find out." Sirius stresses every word tightly as he says them and meets Regulus' eyes. "I trust you. I've given Kreacher orders to avoid me at night, " he mutters under his breath, "For both of our benefits."

"If she does?"

"What doesn't kill you - makes you stronger." His brother quotes with mad gleam to his eyes. Regulus wonders if it's a Gryffindor trait that kids adopt when they get Sorted in the House because he never saw it quite so bright in Sirius's eyes until now. He asks, "What?"

"It's a quote from a Muggle song."

 _Mother would be very unhappy if she heard that._ Regulus mused. "You listen to Muggle music?"

He shrugs, "My friend does." Sirius glances out the window before asking, 'Hey, Reggie, what House do you want to be Sorted into?"

Regulus freezes. Not this again.

"I don't know yet..." He stares miserably at the ground.

His brother hums in thought while tapping his finger against the window sill. Regulus counts.

 _One, two, three, four -  
_

"I'm going to fly." Sirius says abruptly. He jumps up from his spot and heads towards the attic door. There is a swagger to his step that Regulus doesn't remember seeing before Hogwarts. It makes him seem more confident, more arrogant.

Regulus frowns. "And if someone sees you?"

His older brother turns his head and laughs softly, "We are named after the stars, Reggie." There is a brighter spark in his eyes. "We have to shine somehow."

At that parting statement, Sirius quietly leaves the attic and Regulus is left amongst dusty boxes and blank canvases.

With a small sigh, Regulus moves over to his normal spot and peers out the window.

 _Shine, yes._

For some reason, the attic on the highest floor seems far too empty now.

 _Why hasn't Sirius realized yet —  
_

 ** _Crash_**

He can hear the screeching of his mother from down below and Sirius' defiant response. There is a _sharp_ crack of a broom being split apart and more yelling.

Regulus looks miserably out the window and tries to ignore everything that is falling apart.

 _— that the brightest stars still burn out._


End file.
